chasing balance (vegas, baby III)

the title isn’t nearly as philosophical as it sounds, i assure you…

…no, this is about chase bank.

(although i didn’t get the “chasing…” pun till i wrote that last line)

we talked daily charges in a previous bit but the overall was interesting. because i know how the ufc and i get when we drink i built in cash cushions EVERYWHERE. from the account i used out there to the one i never touched the card for to the cash i carried on me – i made sure there was a little extra dough tucked hither, thither, and yon. shit, i even did some extra work for extra pay around the shop and told the boss to hold that check JUST IN CASE so i knew i’d come back to at least a fitty spot.

insurance is a good thing.

so, as i talked about, you get dinged for your overages daily, but they nail you for the overages PLUS whatever you committed to at the end. in our case it was just under three bills. not bad for the suite and the food and the hospitality. the ufc had some reservations (no hotel pun intended) about staying at the hard rock since it was the ONE casino she’d stayed at previously with her ex. i told her that, unfortunately, this was the only place i’d stay in vegas. after our experience there, coupled with what we saw of downtown folk AND what i saw at the one strip casion we wandered into (caesar’s palace) she agreed that going forward this is our spot, although we might opt for one of the newer towers next time that, by placement will have less of a view, but by age should have better climate control (for all the rock star decadence and the killer view our a/c in the suite sucked).

the bill was where it got interesting.

i went to sign out and agreed (in part reluctantly) to $291.20. but when we were almost at the airport rental plaza i checked my balance to see not a charge, but an ATM credit for $362.84. i know that sometimes when people fish your debit card they start by putting in a CREDIT rather than a debit because most folks don’t call the bank when free money appears in their account.

i called the bank.

it was new enough that they could see no real details, they just knew it was processed through a terminal, not an actual ATM, and at a resort in las vegas, but nothing more. so now we started the waiting game – along with the game of me living off cash for a bit till all got sorted out. this was LAST thursday, as in still in june. the credit fell off friday, july 1st and i expected the charge the same day…but that wasn’t the case.

with monday being a bank holiday i expected i’d see the charge hit tuesday, july 5th. nope. but ever since we’ve gotten back from vegas budnik wakes me up at 4am sharp. i can go to bed at 11pm, i can go at 2:30am – he wakes me up at 4am sharp just to love on him. pet him a bit, kiss his nose, let him kiss mine, then he goes back to sleep. i swear with all my watch collection i’ve (rudely) never fronted him a single one, but he knows when the fuck 4am is. when he woke me up today (wednesday) i checked my bank balance and it was exactly what i expected post-vegas debit…but the debit didn’t show. instead it showed double-ups for EVERY debit i did yesterday, but that didn’t add up to where my balance SHOULD be.

“fuck these folks, they need to sort out my shit once and for all”, i said, and drifted back to sleep.

this morning all was right – balance was the same as 4am, but now no duplicate charges and the vegas charge WAS on there. i’m still giving it a couple days for all the dust settles before i deal with that account again, but at least a week later i think i know where my month stands financially. it ain’t pretty, but it ain’t nearly as bad as i expected…